Puri (Punjabi: ਪੁਰੀ, پــــُـــرى; Hindi: पुरी, Urdu: پــــُـــرى), is a Khatri clan with it's origins in the Punjab region of the Indian Subcontinent
Origin and Etymology
The surname itself may possibly be derived from the Purus, the ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of the Northwestern Punjab region who, siding with the Iranic tribes (e.g. Parsu), were defeated at the Battle of the Ten Kings mentioned in the Rig Veda.
Possible relationship with the Rigvedic Puru tribe
The modern surname Puri may possibly originate with the Puru Vedic tribe.
Buddha Prakash, Professor of History and of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Director of the Institute of Indic Studies (1964); in his book Political and Social Movement in Ancient Punjab states:
The Purus settled between the Asikni and the Parusni, whence they launched their onslaught on the Bharatas, and after the initial rebuff in the Dasarajna War, soon regrouped and resumed their march on the Yamuna and the Sarasvati and subsequently merged with the Bharatas, Some of their off-shoots lingered on in the Punjab and one of their scions played a notable part in the events of the time at Alexander's invitation. They probably survived in the Punjab under the name of Puri, which is a sub-caste of the Khatris. ,
—Political and Social Movement in Ancient Punjab, By Buddha Prakash, pp 77 ,
Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi in his 1966 book Ancient India: A History of its Culture and Civilisation wrote:
The cause of the Ten-Kings battle was that the Ten tried to divert the river Parushni. This is a stretch of the modern Ravi which, however, changed its course several times. Diversion of the waters of the Indus system is still a cause for angry recriminations between India and Pakistan. The 'greasy-voiced' Purus, though enemies of Sudas, were not only Aryans but closely related to the Bharatas. Later tradition even makes the Bharatas a branch of the Purus. The same clan priests in the Rigveda impartially call down curses and blessings upon the Purus in diverse hymns, which shows that the differences between them and the Bharatas were not permanent. The quarrel was of another sort than that between Aryan and non-Aryan. The Purus remained in the Harappa region and expanded their rule over the Panjab in later times. It was they who put up the strongest fight against Alexander in 327 B.C. The modern Panjabi surname Puri may possibly originate with the Puru tribe.,
—Ancient India: A History of its Culture and Civilisation, By Kosambi, Damodar Dharmanand, pp 81-83 ,
D. D. Kosambi (1996) in his book An introduction to the study of India history writes:
The Puru tribe seems to have been as Aryan as any. It survived in the Mahabharata story, and to Alexander's time (perhaps in the modern Punjabi surname Puri)
— Ancient India: A History of its Culture and Civilisation, By Kosambi, Damodar Dharmanand, pp 95 ,
Hermann Kulke, Dietmer Rothermund write:
King Poros belonged to the tribe of the Pauravas, descended from the Puru tribe mentioned so often in the Rigveda.'
— A History of India, By Hermann Kulke, Dietmar Rothermund, pp 57 ,
Naval Viyogi (1996) in his book The founders of Indus valley civilization and their later history writes:
It was they who put up the strongest fight against Alexander in 327 B.C. The modern Punjabi surname Puri may possibly originate with the Puru tribe.
— The founders of Indus valley civilization and their later history, By Naval Viyogi, pp 155 ,
Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya say:
The Puru army may have been wiped out altogether by Alexander and the Mauryans, but the greater number of Purus must have survived, it was the most numerous of the tribes then in the Punjab. Is it too fanciful to trace the modern Punjabi surname Puri to the Puru tribe? There are other survivals of even greater age, e.g. the Hariyupiya of RV. 6.27.5, which must be modem Harappa.
— Combined Methods in Indology, By Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi, Brajadulal Chattopadhyaya ,
DISTINGUISHED PURIS
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References
Kosambi 1966 4
Prakash 1964: 4
"President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts". Whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
Prakash, Buddha (1964). Political and Social Movements in Ancient Panjab. Delhi, Patna, Varanasi: M. Banarsidass. p. 77.